Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Piecing Me Together, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Intersectionality, Identity, and Discrimination
The Power of Language
Mentorship, Opportunity, and Dignity
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Jade takes the bus downtown to take pictures. A woman wearing sandals, dirty jeans, and a thin shirt gets on the bus not long after Jade does. The woman asks the driver if she can ride without a fare and the driver lets her on. She sits across from Jade and she mumbles and cries. Jade wonders who loves this woman and who’s worried about her. She wonders, if when the woman was Jade’s age, she thought she’d be drenched on a bus. When the woman gets off, she calls, “Jesus loves you.” Jade gets off downtown and takes pictures of things downtown. At the historical society, she notices a mural of Lewis and Clark. It includes Sacagawea, her baby, and York. She takes several photos of York’s face.
Discovering this mural that includes York and Sacagawea helps Jade see that Portland can be her home if she chooses to stay and make the best of it. There are opportunities to elevate the experiences of black individuals if Jade knows where to look. Jade also gets to practice her empathy when the crying woman gets on the bus. She looks at the woman with compassion and she recognizes that someone, somewhere, must love this woman—a reflection of the fact that Jade knows that people love her.
Themes
